Senate's Still Broken

Yggy has also come to the conclusion that the Senate system is broken:

We’re suffering from an incoherent institutional set-up in the senate. You can have a system in which a defeated minority still gets a share of governing authority and participates constructively in the victorious majority’s governing agenda, shaping policy around the margins in ways more to their liking. Or you can have a system in which a defeated minority rejects the majority’s governing agenda out of hand, seeks opening for attack, and hopes that failure on the part of the majority will bring them to power. But right now we have both simultaneously. It’s a system in which the minority benefits if the government fails, and the minority has the power to ensure failure. It’s insane, and it needs to be changed.

Which is true, but I'll reply with what BooMan said in August:  it's not the Senate that's broken beyond repair, it's the Republican party.

The Republican Party is hostile to non-white immigration. It considers religious tolerance to be an infringement on the free exercise of Christianity. It opposes gay rights and hate crimes legislation. And it holds anachronistically paternalistic views of human sexuality and reproductive rights. Overtly racist comments are made by Republican leaders (usually unelected leaders) on a regular basis. And, finally, the party has an uneasy relationship with science since much of its base rejects basic scientific theories like of evolution, plate tectonics, and climate change.
All of this has resulted in a deeply divided political culture that is rife with the types of disagreements that cannot be resolved by debate and compromise.

As I said then, I still agree with BooMan now.  The Senate is broken because the Republicans are actively choosing to break it.  Sen. Judd Gregg's memo on how to obstruct Democratic legislation every step of the way for as long as possible is proof of that.  The Republicans have abdicated the responsibility of representing their country.  Instead they are choosing to manipulate the Legislative Branch itself in order to keep the party in power from being able to perform any duties at all, and hoping another year of it will mean voters will reward them with political power.

And frankly, it's starting to work.  The Democrats have not adjusted well to the GOP tactics.  They still think the GOP is looking to compromise.

That naivete is going to hurt them in 2010.